With the latest PTR patch notes announced on the Overwatch website, the community has spoken loud and clear over the good, the bad, and the (possible) overpowered changes taking effect in the coming weeks.

Symmetra changes functions

The latest PTR patch notes have taken direct aim at the kit and abilities of Symmetra. The Developing team has changed her ultimate ability completely along with a few other balance changes. The first change to her passive turret set-ups take aim at how much damage six of them could do at one time.

The nerf swaps away the six turret setup for just three, but now Symmetra has enhanced ways to maneuver those turrets as she can now launch them across the map. The tracking in which Symmetra hits her opponent with while right clicking has also changed drastically.

Instead of the auto lock-on when an opponent is in range, Symmetra has to follow her enemy with a beam that shoots in a straight line. The change will make the kill potential for close-range Symmetra slightly lower but the added range can make her a more potent threat from high ground. The right-click charge option for her auto attacks remains the same.

The Great Wall of ultimates

For her other abilities, Symmetra’s former ultimate ability is now her secondary spell as she can launch teleporters through shorter distances on the map. This change makes the teleporter itself not as potent as it used to be, but the added frequency of well placed teleporters may counteract that constriction of mobility for Symmetra’s that are constantly on top of cooldowns.

The newly added ultimate of Symmetra may be a possible problem in wake with the sheer vastness of the ability. Symmetra’s new ultimate is a castable wall that expands the entirety of the map vertically with a sizeable lifebar. The full extent of the ultimate’s power has not been felt yet on the main server, but the possibility for wonky D.Va wombo-combos seem highly possible with proper coordination.

The changes made to Symmetra were made to solidify her place and flexibility across a variety of team comps as a damage dealing hero. The comments made by the developing team on the Overwatch Patch Notes are hopeful of a completely new variable in gameplay that will make playing with or against Symmetra a lot more interesting.

Horizon: Lunar Colony gets rework, other PTR changes

On top of the massive Symmetra changes, Horizon: Lunar Colony was also given a facelift with the new changes made to the map. On both points A and B, changes have been made to make vantage points and escape routes readily accessible for all heroes.

On Point A, the open room that allowed for easy flanks from the left hand side on Offense has been shut off to make attackers use the vantage point on the second floor. This change has been made to seemingly cut off the easier access attacking teams would have from exploiting the left side of the map and funnels the action into the open area right in front of Point A.

On the right side of attack for Point A, the closer entrances for the first floor flank have been cut off in an attempt to make attackers more visible. The openness added on the top floor from the right side will also make heroes like Hanzo and Widowmaker much more vulnerable even with a vantage point. The added cover spots on the second floor of Point A also seem to make it much easier to defend the point on a map that was notorious for its difficulty.

More minor changes were made to the state of the game with heroes like Doomfist and Orisa. Doomfist now has an added five hit points for his shield on used abilities. His bonus movement speed for enhanced mobility has also been boosted from 150% to 200%. Orisa’s cooldown for her ultimate has been reduced by 15% in an effort to make Orisa players more aggressive with ult usage. This change will make Orisa much more viable on both ends of the floor.